Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Music
Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to
determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her
heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the
copyright.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Paul Chihara Collection of Musical Works and
Papers, 154, Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los
Angeles.

Biography

American composer, Paul Chihara (b. Seattle, WA, July 9, 1938) studied
composition with Robert Palmer at Cornell University (where he received an MA
and DMA in English Literature), Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Ernst Pepping in
Berlin, and Gunther Schuller at the Berkshire Music Center.

Chihara served as an associate professor of music at UCLA from 1966 through
1976. While at UCLA, he founded and directed the Twice Ensemble, conducted the
collegium musicum and was composer in residence for the Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra (1971-1974).

He served as the Andrew Mellon Professor at California Institute of
Technology in 1975, and taught at the California Institute of the Arts in 1976.
Chihara became the composer in residence for the San Francisco Ballet in 1980.
He re-joined the UCLA faculty in 1996, and served as Visiting Professor in
1999.

Chihara has received commissions from many world-renowned performing
institutions, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra,the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Chamber Music Society
of Lincoln Center.

His compositional style reflects his interest in asian music, and utilizes
shifts in timbral coloring and limited pitch movement.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of music manuscripts, published scores, sound
recordings, programs, published reviews, correspondence and photographs.

Highlights of the collection include annotated scores and notes on
performance and composition by the composer.